Hypnos
by Zhong TianHui
Summary: Oh, how she envied spirits and souls— able to be together and really being together because they were like air. Fluid. Weightless. Mixing. Free. Yes, breath. Karura decides, "I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only...I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary." (Dreamscape.)


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Notes: The last few lines (bold) was from a Margaret Atwood poem. I don't know the name of the poem, but it was also the inspiration for the whole fanfic. It was only the last lines that I remember verbatim. This also pulls from the Filipino (though not distinctly) concept of the soul. It is said, that people have two souls- one which is situated in the stomach and gives the body life and breath; the other is situated in the head and encompasses the rest of a person's being. The concept is at play here thought it may seem more like astral projection and such.

Crackship: SasoKaru

x.X.x

These days, they rarely got together long enough to be able to close their eyes and wait for the sun to rise. Limited to a few day-offs and a handful of lazy afternoons a month, they filled their time together with activity and movement— crowded everything they wanted to do within just a few hours. Tired afterwards, but it was time well spent.

Rarer still that she was able to gaze at him while Sasori slept on. Rarer still that she was able to lay her head on his shoulder and feel his warm breath on her hair— eyes taking in the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Karura never woke up before Sasori did. Not even today.

She looked at his other side where a woman slept on as well. Sandy brown hair scattered on the pillow and her small hand draped on his chest. Both of them breathing in the same air, filled with the same light— but only a faint glimmer of it. Only breath present in their bodies.

"Ah, but where are you now, love?" Karura whispered as she brushed some of his hair away form his face. _Very few people know, acknowledge, that we have two souls_, whispered a voice from several years since. _They think that the soul is stationary— forever caged in the body. But that is not so._

"The soul travels," she said, quoting words from her late mother. "And the places the soul visits," her words were whispered as she moved her body to offer a kiss on his slightly parted lips. "Are the stuff of our dreams."

To dreams her soul travels to.

A rush of water passed her by, pushing her body to the surface. His sleep washed over her and rose like the night. Karura looked around— searching for the glimmer of his light. And there it was at the other side of the black lake, right beside the tree with blue and violet leaves— a figure of a man aureoled in flame!

She moved towards him even as he walked away, onwards— not noticing her small blue fire flickering in the distance. She walked on until she stood beside him, underneath the white sun and the three moons that hung in the sky. Onwards he walked towards a dark cave where the sun's white light could not reach.

White jasmine lined the path towards the cave— their soft scent lingering in the air. Welcoming them. White jasmine and chamomile and hawthorn. Karura kept close to him as the scent of poppy filled the damp and enclosed space— without door or gate because Hypnos never liked being disturbed.

She quickened her pace to catch up to him— wondering if she ought to lace her fingers around his hand. Wondering if she should even be there with him as he visited what seemed like a shrine he's built himself.

The dwelling place of Hypnos and Thanatos. Of Sleep and Death.

Karura kept her head high, unwilling to look down at the bodies that covered the floor. Instead, her eyes are met two figures sitting on gilded thrones— a queen or a goddess with dark brown hair and a gentle smile; a king or a god with bright red hair and a kind face. She watched as Sasori approached the throne, only to be stopped by an animal.

_A white wolf with bared fangs and blood on its teeth_.

On instinct, Karura placed herself in between Sasori and the wolf— the animal instantly disappeared like an apparition. The figures on the throne suddenly fell limp and their skin had a dark and familiar color to them. The dark of the wood Sasori used to fashion his puppets.

She turned towards him— to embrace him, to protect him, to tell him that she'd descend to any hell and climb any staircase if it kept his nightmares away. Karura turned around to face Sasori— now an apparition as well wrapped around a fire. She took this bright red flame into her cupped hands and slowly brought it away from the dark shrine.

Away from the shrine and into the light. Past the forest of blue and violet. Past the black lake. Past and through another river— Lethe of forgetfulness. Into the warm desert sand— now guided by the stars and the rising dawn only a few hours away.

Karura brought the bright flame, cupped in her two hands, towards the familiar house and the familiar door. Habit has taught her to use the back door and so she opened the door, slipping inside noiselessly. Silent as she walked towards the bedroom door, his bright flame still in her hands.

She paused at the foot of the bed, a soft smile making its way to her face as she watched the two figures on the bed. Both of them breathing in the same air, filled with the same light— but only a faint glimmer of it. Only breath present in their bodies.

But now she had his fire.

Karura came closer to where Sasori's sleeping form lay beside hers, the flame still flickering in her hand. She paused to gaze at it for a while— dancing at her fingertips and providing a gentle warmth to her soul. A fire that never burned her— and yet she burns for it.

She knelt down beside his sleeping form and brought the fire close to his face— an offering to the sleeping deity who accepted her into his dreams. Karura watched as Sasori's soul left her hands and entered his body— as easily as if he were simply breathing in air.

_Yes, air._

It was the first time she's watched a soul enter a body and the first time she's felt him nestled so closely in her hand. So closely. The first time she's seen his other soul, his breath, reunite with the traveler she's accompanied in that night's journey.

Oh, how she envied spirits and souls— able to be together and really _being_ together because they were like air. Fluid. Weightless. Mixing. Free.

_Yes, breath_. Karura decides, **_"I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only."_**She slipped to his side and was pulled into her own body lying beside his. With eyes closed, she dropped her last thoughts before Lethe washed over her in the dawn. _**"I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary."**_

_****_Unnoticed. Like the soul that guided him back home. Like the soul he dreamed of that night. Like the soul he'll forget when morning comes.

Necessary. Like the faint glimmer of light in his person. Like the breath in his lungs. Like the soul that keeps him alive.


End file.
